The Austrian capital Vienna is planning to establish a part ESF-funded college for young refugees aged between 15 and 21 to ease their transition into the regular education and vocational training system.

An extraordinary meeting of managing authorities on 25 September discussed how to optimise the use of the ESF and the FEAD to support the integration of asylum seekers and refugees and exchange good practice and experience in this field

The second edition of the ESF-funded project ‘Polis’ helped 50 mentally disabled and socio-economically disadvantaged people improve their chances on the employment market. Half of the participants have now found a job – 17 of them with a permanent contract.

The partly ESF-funded youth justice organisation Le Chéile in Ireland is hoping to extend its services to reach more young offenders with its newly-launched strategy for 2015 to 2017 ‘Inspiring Change, Transforming Lives’.

Creating new jobs leads to greater efficiency, flexibility and satisfaction among employees, plus it reduces downtime. These are the results of five ESF-funded pilot projects conducted in the Netherlands.

The Commission has called on Member States to prioritise social investment and to modernise their welfare states. This means better performing active inclusion strategies and a more efficient and more effective use of social budgets.